Typically, you have to jump in with both feet if you want to shape web browser features -- you have to use early (read: buggy) releases and leap into the developer community. But what if you're happy with a stable version and just want to offer a bit of constructive criticism? Mozilla will soon have you covered. It's launching Idea Town, an opt-in program that lets you try upcoming features and offer feedback. You won't have to ditch a regular copy of Firefox, and these will only be features that are likely to show up. While this means that you won't get strictly experimental features (think Chrome's flags), it should put more of the development process in your hands.

Your iPhone just became a better remote control for the internet of things. Google has released Chrome 44 for iOS, which lets you see Physical Web devices (think smart parking meters and vending machines) in iOS' Today view -- you don't need to run specialized apps or open the browser just to see gadgets around you. It's still a worthwhile upgrade even if you don't live around compatible gadgets, since you can finally use Safari-style horizontal swipes to flip back and forth through web pages. Either way, you'll definitely want to swing by the App Store if Chrome is your surfing software of choice.

Last month, Instagram redesigned the discovery section of its photo-sharing app to make it easier to spot what's trending and leverage search abilities. Now, that revamped search function is arriving on the web. If you'll recall, the option for browsing filter-draped photos in a browser received an update last month too, and now you'll be able to do more than peruse images. Using the search tool, you can hunt for user profiles, hashtags and locations in order to see what's happening at a particular event or in a specific place. There are also landing pages for hashtags and locations -- similar to the mobile app -- allowing you to scroll through a collection of images before clicking to nab the details for each. This is the latest in a number of steps the photo app has taken to embrace browsing on the web, following embeddable posts, timelines and more over the years. This doesn't mean Instagram is taking its eye off mobile by any means, but adding the web-based tools as a complimentary piece is certainly a nice touch.

Google put Map Maker editing on ice in May after digital vandals got away with some rogue changes, but it's finally ready to get things back on track... if you're willing to pitch in. The internet giant says it will start reopening edits in early August, but it's asking the community to play a much larger role this time around. Instead of leaning primarily on Google itself for moderation, some Map Maker areas will also depend on Regional Leads (that is, eager volunteer cartographers) to review any tweaks.

To put it mildly, Adobe's Flash plugin has fallen from grace in recent years. BlackBerry, Google and other companies once thought it was crucial to the web, but you'll now find many of these outfits going out of their way to avoid and contain Flash in the names of both security and promoting true standards. Need further proof that it's a pariah? Just ask Facebook's new security chief, Alex Stamos. He's calling on Adobe to not only choose an "end-of-life date" for Flash, but to enable web browser "killbits" that shut it off for everyone at once. That's the only way to "disentangle the dependencies" and get everyone to move on to more secure technology like HTML5, he argues.

We hope you aren't curious about Nolan Bushnell's game development history... you may find yourself sucked into a time sink. Microsoft has quietly added an option to play Pong in Bing (Bing Pong, get it?) if you search for the digital table tennis classic in your browser. It's not a novel concept, and it certainly isn't the most advanced -- Google's Cube Slam experiment is on another level. It's surprisingly addictive, however, and might offer just the right amount of '70s gaming nostalgia to tide you over when you're stuck at work.

Pushbullet is already a secret weapon for getting content from one device (or one person) to another -- you can relay your links, notifications, photos and SMS messages with a common app. Today, though, it's getting considerably more powerful. As part of a revamp, Pushbullet's desktop, mobile and web apps are turning into true messaging apps, with easy replies and a quick way to find "pushes" (chats and shared content) from your friends. On Windows, it'll even give you Facebook-style chat heads that keep conversations close at hand. Effectively, Pushbullet is blurring the lines between sharing and messaging -- you don't have to switch apps to talk to a friend after you're done sending a photo to your phone. All of the updates are available now, so you can give this all-encompassing app a shot right away.

Google must not be content to sit on the sidelines as Spotify tries to conquer the streaming media world -- the internet behemoth has unveiled a free, ad-supported version of Google Play Music's streaming service for the US. It'll be familiar if you've tried these no-charge listening options before. Besides having to deal with occasional commercial interruptions, you'll lose the direct control that you have with a paid subscription (which, by the way, is dropping the All Access label). You can start a radio-like station based on an artist, album or song, but you won't have on-demand playback, offline support, playlist creation or background listening for YouTube music videos. It's more for ambient tunes than anything else.

When you launch a Google service like YouTube or Gmail on the web, there's always a little bell icon in the corner hiding a bundle of notifications. For many people, this feed is a complete mess and full of alerts for services they rarely use. Well, now Google is making it a little easier to focus its notifications on the tools that really matter to you. As Android Police notes, it's now possible to hit the settings cog and toggle alerts for Google+, Photos and YouTube individually. Never use Google's social network? Now you can remain blissfully ignorant whenever someone adds you to a circle or gives your post a +1. Likewise, if you only care about knowing when people have replied to your YouTube comments, it's now much easier to keep those notifications front and center. At the moment only a handful of Google services are supported, but if enough people start using it, we suspect it'll only be a matter of time before the company bundles in all of its web properties.

Microsoft knows that Bing's video search looks more than a little outdated in an era when YouTube frequently doubles as a music player. Accordingly, it's giving the feature a much-needed makeover. The new page puts a much stronger emphasis on music videos -- search for a recognizable tune and you'll get an extra-large video that will play in place. The upgrade also moves related searches in-line with the original, so you'll have a better shot at finding that elusive cover song or remix.

Never mind waiting until after the fact to find out what people are searching for online -- Google wants you to know what's hot right fricking now. The internet giant has introduced real-time tracking to Google Trends, so you can follow a search frenzy as it happens. If you want to know which basketball team is dominating the buzz over the past hour (spoiler: it's the Golden State Warriors), you just have to narrow the scope accordingly to see a minute-by-minute graph. The trend page has also been redesigned to put a bigger emphasis on the latest stories, and you can dive deeper into niche subjects and specific regions. Yes, you're still looking at charts, but this refresh at least gives you a good excuse to visit Google Trends more than once in a blue moon.

You won't have to wait long at all to try Netflix's long-expected (and arguably overdue) web interface overhaul -- it's rolling out over the course of the next two weeks, starting today. No matter where you are in the world, you'll get a much slicker experience that resembles what you see in the streaming video service's dedicated apps. Richer visuals are the big deal, but it should also be easier to get a sense of what a show is like before you click on it. The front end is designed from the ground up for touch, too, so you won't be left fumbling as you catch up on Orange is the New Black from your tablet. Just be sure to make sure you're using a modern browser, since the upgrade also drops support for the "small number" of people running older web software.

As of today, you no longer need a relatively pricey PC to chat on Skype when you'd rather not break out your phone -- a cheap-and-cheerful Chromebook will do the trick. In addition to expanding the Skype web beta worldwide, Microsoft has introduced instant messaging for both Chrome OS and Linux users. It's not the video or voice calling you're looking for, but it means that you can stay in touch with Skype-obsessed family members without having to switch devices or services. The messaging platform is based on the open, video-capable WebRTC standard, so don't be surprised if you're eventually holding face-to-face Skype conversations on that Chrome machine.

Most of the BBC's programming is only available for 30 days on iPlayer, so trying to keep up with long-running and complicated TV shows can be a pain. Want to remember how River Song fits into the Doctor Who universe, but don't have the DVD box sets to hand? Your best option is normally to browse Wikipedia or some Whovian fan sites. To tackle the problem, the BBC is experimenting with a site format called "Story Explorer," which could explain storylines and characters for some of its most popular shows. Today, the broadcaster is launching a version for its Home Front radio drama with custom illustrations, text descriptions and audio snippets. More importantly, the key events are laid out as simple, vertical timelines so that you can easily track the show's wartime chronology.

You may not think that the security of your Wikipedia research is a big deal, but it can be. You don't want spies to misinterpret your searches for potassium nitrate and the Gunpowder Plot as evidence of a terrorist conspiracy, after all. Appropriately, the Wikimedia Foundation is starting to encrypt all web traffic on Wikipedia and other associated websites through HTTPS, making it decidedly harder to monitor your knowledge hunts. The initiative should also make it at least a bit tougher for censorship-happy governments to block inconvenient facts. Encryption isn't new on the organization's sites (you've had a manual HTTPS option since 2011), but this always-on policy means that you never have to think about it -- you can assume that there's a basic level of privacy.

Don't like having to wrestle with pop-up ads and similar intrusions when you're browsing the web on your iPhone? You might not have to when iOS 9 rolls around. Apple has quietly let slip that the operating system's version of Safari includes support for content blocking extensions, much like its Mac counterpart -- in other words, it can block ads. You only have to install an app with the right Safari extensions to make cookies, images, scripts and other unwanted material disappear. It's not certain how Apple will police apps with these add-ons, but it's feasible that at least some ad blockers will get approval.

Apple's pressure-sensitive Force Touch trackpad isn't tremendously useful in typical Mac software, but it might just get a new lease on life in OS X El Capitan. The new operating system's development tools let websites define what happens when you make that extra-strong click. You could favorite that adorable cat photo instead of zooming into it, for instance. There are some big gotchas associated with this, however. You'll need a circa-2015Maclaptop to start with, but you'll also have to surf the web in Safari -- this won't help much if you're using an iMac, or prefer browsers like Chrome and Firefox. As clever as pressure-aware pages might be, you might not run into them that often without wider app and device support.

It may be a tad late for spring cleaning, but Instagram redesigned profile pages on the web to cut down on the clutter. On both mobile and desktop, profile pages, hashtag collections and your home feed are all getting tweaks to make things a bit neater. Desktop profiles, for example, nix the rotating image header up top and display larger images in rows of three instead of five. The changes get rid of the added boarders, button styles and more that the mobile app's redesign already updated in favor of a cleaner, flatter look. Not seeing the new design yet? Don't worry, it's rolling out now and you should be seeing it by the end of the week. Slideshow-295720

The Syrian government's digital supporters aren't letting up on their attacks against the US. Officials have confirmed that hackers linking themselves to the Syrian Electronic Army both defaced the US Army's website and steered visitors to a page championing the regime. The military rejects the intruders' claims that they compromised internal databases, noting that there's no classified or personal data at risk. Still, the Army isn't taking any chances -- it temporarily took down its website to make sure things didn't get any worse. However light the damage might be, it's safe to say that the feds' cyberdefense efforts just took another bad blow.

You probably don't think of your personal media server as a target for hackers and spies, but Plex isn't taking any chances. The company has started handing out free SSL security certificates to everyone using a media server, giving you an encrypted connection while you're picking a movie to watch or simply signing in. The feature works across devices, too -- you'll get the same locked-down link whether you're on your phone or the web. Support is live now on Android, Plex Home Theater, Roku players, Windows and the web, and it should land shortly on game consoles, iOS and smart TVs.

There's no question that Amazon is hurting independent bookstores. It's hard to compete with the convenience of quick shipping. If you live in the UK, though, a Chrome extension uses the online retailer's listings to give you a local option during the hunt for a new book. The add-on is called Bookindy and leverages info on independent retailers from locally-focused site Hive. Not only does it display the spot with the best price, but how far you'll have to travel in order to pick up the title in person, too. "I wanted to build something that doesn't compete head-on with the Amazon machine, but embraces it, augments it and nudges you towards the local option to buy," explains Bookindy's creator Will Cookson. Unfortunately, it's only useful in the UK, so here's to hoping another creative soul devises a similar plug-in for other locales.

Most massively multiplayer online games take place in epic fantasy worlds or the distant future, but one of the latest sensations takes place on a much, much smaller scale. Agar.io pits thousands of players against each other in a web-based petri dish, where each gamer represents a cell. Your only real goal is to grow larger than everyone else by swallowing other cells and dodging your bigger rivals. It sounds simple, but it can get very hectic -- and it's a good abstraction of the fierce survival-of-the-fittest competition that you sometimes see on the microscopic level.

The FBI might want to continue brushing up on its internet skills. The agency's online division forgot to renew the web domain it uses to host seized websites, leading to a "black hat SEO" marketer taking over sites like Megaupload and temporarily filling them with malware- and scam-laden ads. Law enforcement officials eventually got their former domain suspended due to an "ongoing criminal investigation" into the malware, but the address' ultimate fate remains up in the air. Suffice it to say that the mistake is ironic -- the FBI inadvertently contributed to the very sort of digital crime it's trying to stop.

That rumor of Google adding a "buy" button to shopping ads? It's true. The company's Omid Kordestani has confirmed to Recode that this super-quick purchasing option is "imminent." He didn't describe how it would work in detail, but the leak described "Shop on Google" search ads that take you to a product page the moment you give in to that consumerist impulse. The real mystery may be who's onboard with the program. Google reportedly went the extra mile to court retailers worried that they'd be cut out of the loop, but there's no certainty that you'll see a lot of big-name stores signing on right away.